Well, it has been over a month since I said my final goodbyes to my students over Zoom, and since then I’ve been so busy traveling, attending online conferences, making this blog look nicer, and, somewhere in there, also enjoying my summer, that I never got around to writing this post until now. Last year was certainly a memorable one, and while there were a lot of challenges, one thing that shone through to me was how much my students still enjoyed learning. During the last week of school which was completely virtual, I presented my students with a poem in French, which is something I do every year, except this year, a lot of the things mentioned in the poem didn’t apply to what we did this year, and many of the experiences we had weren’t referenced in the previous poem. So, I took the old poem and removed the irrelevant content and added in references to some of the unique experiences we had. I ended up with almost a completely new poem. I incorporated photos from the school year to accompany each line of the poem when I read it to the students. I decided to share it here in case it inspires you to write a similar poem for your students. I’ve included some of the images I used in the poem as well, but for privacy reasons, I did not include photos that show students’ faces. There’s also a translation so that folks who don’t teach French know what it says. Of course, it doesn’t rhyme in English! 🤷♀️
2020-21, c’est une année très folle …
… parce que la pandémie change les routines à l’école !
2020-2021, it’s a very crazy year… because the pandemic changes the routines at school!
Les masques et les cohortes, l’instruction virtuelle…
The masks and the cohorts, the virtual instruction…
C’est très, très bizarre, même pour Mademoiselle !
It’s very, very weird, even for Mademoiselle!
On prépare des crêpes et des bûches de Noël…
We prepare crêpes and yule logs…
Et on les présente sur Zoom, c’est une fête virtuelle !
And we present them on Zoom, it’s a virtual party!
Le wifi est important pour Nearpod, Zoom et Classkick…
…et les clips vidéo sur YouTube, ils sont très comiques !
WiFi is important for Nearpod, Zoom, and Classkick… and the videos on YouTube, they are very funny!
On explore ensemble la francophonie…
We explore together the French-speaking world…
Le Québec, la Louisiane, et la France aussi !
Quebec, Louisiana, and France too!
Avec Classkick, Nearpod et PowerPoint, on fait des projets et des activités…
With Classkick, Nearpod, and PowerPoint, we do projects and activities…
Mais Kahoot, Blooket et Gimkit, c’est l’activité que vous préférez !
But Kahoot, Blooket and Gimkit, that’s the activity that you prefer!
J’aime votre enthousiasme et vos positives attitudes…
Alors continuez en français, avancez vos études !
I love your enthusiasm and your positive attitudes… so continue in French, advance your studies!
Je vous dis au revoir, mais pas pour toujours…
I say good-bye to you, but not forever…
Rentrez en septembre, passez-moi le bonjour !
Come back in September, say hi to me!
I also gave my students a high resolution file of the last image that they could print out or order a print of. I drew it on my iPad and it has each of their names on it. I incorporated references to the various experiences we had this year. At the bottom is a drawing of our school. To see more of my digital illustrations, follow me on Instagram.
I drew this illustration of our school to give as a retirement present to some of the teachers in our building who retired this year. It’s based off a photo I took of the building. It’s always nice to add a personal touch to your gifts.
We still aren’t 100% what the coming school year will look like, but I think if we can make it through 2020, we can make it through anything!
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